Tigers survive sloppy start, rout UMKC

Wednesday

Dec 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 30, 2009 at 8:10 PM

Steve Walentik

Laurence Bowers was starting to look like a mainstay in the Missouri basketball team’s starting lineup, stepping out for the opening tip in every game during the Tigers’ recent four-game winning streak.

Considering that run of success, the last thing most coaches would ever think to do is make a change.

But Mike Anderson isn’t most coaches. Ducking conventional wisdom, he sent junior Justin Safford out in place of Bowers at the start of last night’s game against UMKC, and it turned out to be a perfect decision for the sophomore forward.

Bowers did not miss a shot on his way to a career-high 17 points to lead the Tigers to a 91-57 romp over the Kangaroos at Mizzou Arena. He was 5 for 5 from the field, hit all seven of his free-throw attempts and matched Safford with a team-high six rebounds.

He was part of a cast of reserves who combined for 57 points as Missouri (10-3) won its fifth straight game and stretched its home winning streak to 27.

“You can’t do anything any better,” Anderson said of Bowers’ performance, which was punctuated by a pair of highlight-reel dunks as Missouri cut loose in the second half against the overmatched Kangaroos (7-6).

The high-flying forward finished off an alley-oop from Miguel Paul as the Tigers stretched their lead to 31 with 13:14 left in the second half and later threw home a tomahawk dunk to extend the lead to 37 with 2:35 to play. Of course, a less emphatic slam, four free throws and six rebounds from Bowers in the first half ultimately meant more to Missouri last night.

The Tigers needed someone — or several someones — to spark them off the bench after one of the worst starts of the season, and Bowers was one of the players who did that. He and guards Zaire Taylor, Marcus Denmon and Miguel Paul combined for 28 first-half points off the bench to help MU snap out of a 4½-minute scoring drought at the start of the game, climb out of an early 6-0 hole and get control of the game.

Taylor, who like Bowers has also been used often in a starting role, actually did the most to turn Missouri’s fortunes around after the early struggles.

The Tigers seemed to be settling for too many jump shots in the early going and missed its first nine field-goal attempts, but Taylor changed that by forcing his way toward the basket. The senior guard got Missouri on the board by sinking two free throws after getting fouled on one drive to the basket with 15:28 left and also gave the Tigers their first field goal on another less than a minute later.

Those were the first four points in a 20-0 run that turned things squarely in MU’s favor.

“There were times when I started when I’d be out there letting it fly, and Coach would be yelling at us, ‘Go to the hole, go to the hole,’ ” said Taylor, who scored all 10 of his points in the first half. “When you’re on the bench, sometimes it gives you a little more perspective. You see it for yourself.”

Bowers took longer to get involved in the decisive surge, but his steal led to a Denmon 3-pointer. He later flushed a bounce pass from Denmon to put MU ahead 14-6 with 11:15 remaining.

He added four free throws in the last four minutes of the first half. That helped Missouri take a 12-point lead into intermission despite shooting 35.5 percent from the field as a team, turning the ball over eight times and getting only eight points from its five starters.

There have been too many times when Bowers, as a starter, hasn’t been able to have an impact late in a half because he’s been saddled with foul trouble.

“Me and Coach just talked about that in the locker room,” Bowers said. “I guess when I come off the bench, I see how you can play certain guys out there on the floor, whereas when I start, I guess I’ve been getting cheap fouls just getting out of position a little bit.”

“Who knows? We may be on to something,” Anderson said. “I don’t know.”

The coach would clearly like to believe he’s stumbled onto a proven method to get the most out of Bowers.

The talented sophomore has been unable to live up to the early expectations he brought his way when he averaged 15 points and 6.5 assists in the first two games, but last night’s game could have been a breakthrough.

“That was a good confidence boost,” Bowers said. “I actually did the things that I was capable of doing.”

The Tigers, who are in need of more consistent production from their frontline, can only hope he’ll build on it — whether starting or off the bench — when they take on Georgia on Saturday afternoon and a week later when they open Big 12 Conference play.